Adding color to Par38s

Ampacity

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Does anyone have any suggestions on how to add color to Par38 lamps. I've noticed around Christmas time Par 38s are available with rather thick plastic covers in a few colors. Are these covers available separately or are there gel holders designed for these lamps that would possibly clip directly onto the lamp? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks Tom
 
They just snap onto the frame of the fixture. You dont need to but anything else. You can usually get packs of them for 5 bucks. Chauvet and American DJ make good ones.

I also will just take a sheet of gel and two clothes pins and just use that to hold the gel on.
 
You can (in Australia) buy the lamps in several colours. I use these for very basic washes and sound-to-light applications. The good thing is that they never fade or burn out. The draw back is that you have to carry several spare lamps (for each colour). However, thay are cheap and very robust.
 
you can make your own colored bulbs by carefully dipping them in diluted paint, if you dip them too far they can catch on fire!!!
 
no way
 
haha... i like to dip light bulbs into paint... not

i have seen what mayhem is talking about, but will generally just slip some gel in place. there is a guy around ehre that actually made his own gel frames which was a big effort however u can use bobby pins (hair pins) which sounds pretty much the same idea as digitaltec.

they are handy to stick in and under things, like giant christmas trees and in the leaves and branchesof trees at night, creates and awesome effect... if you can pick up some par 16's (birdies) they work well in your own home haha
 
As Mayhem says, there are bulbs available pre-colored either as a normal lens coating or a dichroic coating which will give an even better feel to the light given off. Lamp dip is rated for a maximum of 40 watts. The minimum wattage available for a PAR 38 is 45 watts and while this probably would work, I would not recommend it.
I have never seen a clip on gel frame for a PAR lamp. Given it’s concave face on most of these lamps, such a gel frame clipping directly to the lamp probably would have problems. Such gel frames are available for MR-16 lensed lamps which clip directly on however.

Instead it’s more a question of the fixture the PAR 38 is mounted in, or more important the snout for the fixture. At times with some A-15 lamp fixtures that kind of looked like a long slender cup with lamp base in it, I was able to make a gel frame for them using a gel, masking tape and plastic tool dip. Just a question of making some form of cup which slid over the end of the fixture’s cylinder shape sufficient to hold the gel in place. Other fixtures such as those from Halo and designed for track lights, frequently have a cover at the tip of the fixture that can install either roundells avalable from amongst other sources - American DJ, or gel shoved into the hinged cover area. A roundell be it of plastic or glass and in spot, clear or flood beam spread is generally available in a PAR 38 size given you know who to shop at. Just a question than of a fixture that will hold it. Some if not most of the entertainment lighting PAR 38 fixtures have gel frame brackets at the tip of the can which than can hold either that roundel in a gel frame or a gel in it. Short of a entertainment lighting fixture, and at least on a architectural fixture that either has a front cover at the tip of the instrument or at least the barrel of the fixture extending beyond the lamp your choices are limited due to the shape of the bulb. Best to go with a colored lamp instead, than you also don’t have to worry about burn thru which will probably be the case anyway given proximity.
 
We cut some cheap frames for ourselves, mainly b/c we were loosing them so quickly. We used cardboard, and a jigsaw. No jokes. Use a metal frame for a template, and go nuts. They work good for single use gel frames.
 
Beyond lamp dip, which is only rated for a maximum of 40W, I'm not aware of any lamp paint specifically for PAR lamps. If you can find the info, please let me know about it. This type of question is much asked for at work.
 
Sorry ship...

Sorry ship, I saw the paint ages ago, and all I can remember was that it was used to colour the front of a par lamp.

Cannot even remember the manufacturer (or what colour it was!).

Sorry to get your hopes up,

Patch.
 

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